Arfcom is down - Killed by commies at least down for the moment

[Lomshek]

Yeah I know everyone loves to bash barfcom but it's not just neckbeards and mouth breathers. There are a lot of us who are patriots from all walks of life who put up with the idiocy for the knowledge base and connections.

If you haven't already done it get contact info for as many forum friends as possible. Any in your area to rely on and as many as possible in other areas to spread info across networks of patriots.

This is the first step of the hard push to permanently silence dissenting voices.

Besides forum nuts you'd better make a list of local friends and family you can count on for more than a nice evening meal.

Get Signal and Telegram if you don't have them. Get your ham tech, general or expert license and figure out how to use that to communicate with others. The days of freely available real news are over.

The arf owners were working their ass off to get away from AWS but clearly not soon enough. Hopefully they can resurrect it. No matter how much idiocy there was the largest gun board in the world was a huge clearinghouse of information and news making connections between the most hated class of patriots on the planet.

Smaller boards like this are going to be next and what's coming down the pipe will be far worse. Get your shit together!

[Bergeron]

Are there any further details of exactly what happened, and how? I'm assuming that this is some sort of "hacker" attack, but I have nothing but my own supposition to base that on.

[SecondsCount]

Arf is not down, their domain has been pulled by godaddy, said there was violent activity on.

Things are going to get real interesting if they keep poking the tiger. I'm not condoning violence but there are many that feel like they are being pushed into a corner. Personally I think it is outside influences that are trying to create civil war.

[Tokarev]

Yep. Site is down.

[Zhukov]

From Goatboy:


GoDaddy shut down the domain without cause. They said we are are allowing illegal activities here, which is not true. If you know anyone there, let them know they are an enemy of freedom and in violation of their own terms. Once we restore the site we will continue to discuss this situation.

...

WE WILL SWITCH TO RUN ON - ar15-backup.com - as quickly as we can! Until we recover ar15.com, THAT will be the domain name for this site. Spread it around and we'll post to social media sites as well!

[Lomshek]

Arf is not down, their domain has been pulled by godaddy, said there was violent activity on.

Things are going to get real interesting if they keep poking the tiger. I'm not condoning violence but there are many that feel like they are being pushed into a corner. Personally I think it is outside influences that are trying to create civil war.

I realize technically that's different but its a difference without distinction because the result either way is that it's inaccessible.

I don't normally use them but tried the one job work around site I could remember and it was down as well.

I don't think outside sources are trying to create a civil war so much as they're trying to eliminate all dissent which will probably accomplish the same thing.

[Guerrero]

Lemme get this straight: Go Daddy wants to piss off a whole forum whose members (almost) all own "evil assault weapons"?

Shine on you crazy diamond.

[Lomshek]

From Goatboy:

GoDaddy shut down the domain without cause. They said we are are allowing illegal activities here, which is not true. If you know anyone there, let them know they are an enemy of freedom and in violation of their own terms. Once we restore the site we will continue to discuss this situation.

...

WE WILL SWITCH TO RUN ON - ar15-backup.com - as quickly as we can! Until we recover ar15.com, THAT will be the domain name for this site. Spread it around and we'll post to social media sites as well!



Thanks. I just saw that on the shitposting Telegram group.

Hopefully it can stay up longer than AWS can kill it next.

I imagine the next step will be for ISP's to just kill anything gun related from being seen. Would a VPN work to defeat an ISP effort to kill it?

[SecondsCount]

I realize technically that's different but its a difference without distinction because the result either way is that it's inaccessible.

I don't normally use them but tried the one job work around site I could remember and it was down as well.

I don't think outside sources are trying to create a civil war so much as they're trying to eliminate all dissent which will probably accomplish the same thing.

I just posted for clarification, and agree, this isn't a good thing. One thing I will say, their mods need to pull in the reins as there are some over there that are condoning violence.

[Guerrero]

Hypothetically, if P-F goes down, how would we get back up? Do we need to establish back-channel communication? LittleLebowski?

[Lomshek]

I just posted for clarification, and agree, this isn't a good thing. One thing I will say, their mods need to pull in the reins as there are some over there that are condoning violence.

Gotcha.

They seemed to crack down pretty hard on anyone advocating violence of any kind. I never saw any legit bad post or poster stay up.

Now if you're using the godaddy/AWS/Twitter definition then there's no way to meet that standard.

[Cory]

Private companies choosing what is right and wrong for soceity is likely to come to head.

"Private companies can do whatever they want..." may or may not be true, but if it doesn't resonate with folks it's not going to matter. There is a real perception that anything dissenting from the liberal's supposed norm is under attack. And perception is reality.

[blues]

Hypothetically, if P-F goes down, how would we get back up? Do we need to establish back-channel communication? LittleLebowski?

Wolverines!

[ranger]

Snipers Hide down for "maintenance"

[Lomshek]

Hypothetically, if P-F goes down, how would we get back up? Do we need to establish back-channel communication? LittleLebowski?

I was in the process of gathering contact info for anyone in my Hometown forum and posters I've had interactions with when they killed it. Been doing it since seeing what was coming after Jan 6.

If you have friends you've made here I'd suggest you swap offline contact info with them RFN to get what you need.

I haven't been active here for a couple years (too much to do and not enough time) but if anyone wants to they can email me at roger@tailwindcyclists.com
I was fortunate enough to host an AFHF class from Todd a year or so before he died and met some solid patriots then.

If I'm doxxed or going to be outed it's going to happen no matter what so fuck 'em. I was stupid enough to use my last name as my screen name years ago.

Here's what I was sending to people on arf in my state to trade info. If someone here knows me or wants to stay in touch just email me and I'll send you mine.



Here's the info I'm asking everyone to share.

Name:
Phone:
email:
County or city:
OK to share:

I'll have the only master list access for now and can coordinate small regional group or large group email or encrypted text discussion on Signal or Telegram.

It requires trusting me but I don't see any other way and the likelihood of losing arfcom is pretty high at the rate things are going. Besides being on arfcom for a long time I’m a Project Appleseed shoot boss and ran USPSA matches for almost 10 years.

I'm working on securing my Ham license and am hoping to start some radio comms sessions with anyone interested. As we figure that out I'll share more info.

Having a group of capable and trusted people all over the state may come in handy.

If you have another idea on how to do this that might work better I'm open to anything.

[Lomshek]

Private companies choosing what is right and wrong for soceity is likely to come to head.

"Private companies can do whatever they want..." may or may not be true, but if it doesn't resonate with folks it's not going to matter. There is a real perception that anything dissenting from the liberal's supposed norm is under attack. And perception is reality.

I think we can safely say it's not just a perception.

[seven]

Thanks. I just saw that on the shitposting Telegram group.

Hopefully it can stay up longer than AWS can kill it next.

I imagine the next step will be for ISP's to just kill anything gun related from being seen. Would a VPN work to defeat an ISP effort to kill it?


I haven't been on the telegram group since the rally in Richmond last January. Trying it now shows "Sorry this group is private" Any way to reconnect? Guess I'll check ARF when/if it returns.

VPN won't work because if the DNS records are pulled, there is no way to connect. Well, maybe if we all know the IP address.

[LittleLebowski]

Hypothetically, if P-F goes down, how would we get back up? Do we need to establish back-channel communication? LittleLebowski?

Not that long. Our hosting company isn’t like GoDaddy and our setup is vastly more simple than ARF’s, plus since I own this place, I suspect I can move a bit faster than ARF, unless Brownells is really flexible. That being said, goatboy is a smart dude and the Avila’s genuinely care about freedom; so I bet ARF will be back up and fixed soon.

This is only Monday...I expect all sorts of bad news by Friday.

[JodyH]

The progressive wrongthink purge by big tech will be impossible to stop for at least two years.
Get ready for a complete and total lockdown on any speech that goes against the progressive narrative.
But it's cool... it's not the government squashing free speech*.
:rolleyes:




*unless you consider a government sanctioned, supported and subsidized private monopolistic corporation to be de facto government entity.
Current American crony capitalism is just as bad as Chinas dictatorial communist capitalism... prove me wrong.

[LittleLebowski]

The progressive wrongthink purge by big tech will be impossible to stop for at least two years.
Get ready for a complete and total lockdown on any speech that goes against the progressive narrative.
But it's cool... it's not the government squashing free speech*.
:rolleyes:




*unless you consider a government sanctioned, supported and subsidized private monopolistic corporation to be de facto government entity.
Current American crony capitalism is just as bad as Chinas dictatorial communist capitalism... prove me wrong.

It’s fine, conservatives have the 1st Amendment too. Yup.

[LittleLebowski]

Sent you a PM, Zhukov

[Lomshek]

Looks like the back up site is operational for now. Grab what info you need and get off site contacts for anyone you might give a shit about.

https://www.ar15-backup.com/

[RAM Engineer]

I wonder how long before Google starts monitoring Gmail accounts.

[ccmdfd]

Wolverines!

Well there's always smoke signals and ham radio!

Got to beef up my old morse code skills.

[Suvorov]

I wonder how long before Google starts monitoring Gmail accounts.

How Long Before?

Dude your personal information is safer with an Russian hooker than it is with Google.

[LittleLebowski]

How Long Before?

Dude your personal information is safer with an Russian hooker than it is with Google.

I’d recommend Protonmail (https://protonmail.com).

[Suvorov]

Out of curiosity, I’ve always wondered who Go Daddy was but have never bothered to look it up?

[LittleLebowski]

https://rantingly.com/godaddy-cancels-ar15-com/

[Bergeron]

A timely video, courtsey of InRangeTV:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev__j30ZRTw

[Lomshek]

I wonder how long before Google starts monitoring Gmail accounts.


Starts? Yeah I think that ship sailed a long time ago.

[Guerrero]

I’d recommend Protonmail (https://protonmail.com).

Can't confirm, but ProtonMail may be having issues as about an hour ago. Another forum member tried to send me a message from a Gmail account, and weird stuff happened.

I'm a long time ProtonMail user.

[blues]

Can't confirm, but ProtonMail may be having issues as about an hour ago. Another forum member tried to send me a message from a Gmail account, and weird stuff happened.

I'm a long time ProtonMail user.

I have an account there but use it sparingly. Wonder if their servers were overheated.

[boing]

Snipers Hide down for "maintenance"

This was advertised by site admin in advance.

[blues]

May you live in interesting times...

[Chance]

Can't confirm, but ProtonMail may be having issues as about an hour ago. Another forum member tried to send me a message from a Gmail account, and weird stuff happened.

I just tried ProtonMail to Gmail and it works fine.

[Half Moon]

Out of curiosity, I’ve always wondered who Go Daddy was but have never bothered to look it up?

They help register your domain on the Internet, can provide DNS (think like a phone book listing for websites), can provide web hosting, can provide email hosting, etc. They aren't the only provider for these but are a common and cheap option. In this case, if reports are correct, they've dropped the DNS listing so effectively you can't get to there by name and would need to know IP addresses (again think phone book).

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Back up, it seems. Check for yourself.

[RJ]

I'll be moving to ProtonMail in 2021 ,more or less for good. I've had an account there for about six months. I tried the "plus" pay plan, however due to a miscommunication I didn't understand the features, and cancelled. To Proton's credit, they refunded me my entire annual subscription that remained. It was a very efficient process and their CS rep could not have been more helpful.

Anyway, I still have the free account, and also make use of their free ProtonVPN service when we travel.

[jh9]

Back up, it seems. Check for yourself.

Ugh. Do we have to?

[RJ]

Well, this is amusing.

In support of this site, I applied for an account today.

It just got "denied".

The reason given was the screen name I chose (based on my email, without the "at" whatever dot com) wasn't allowed. I have used a two digit suffix on most of my accounts, for years. But apparently having those two digits (numbers) on an account username isn't permitted there.

Ok then.

[sharps54]

I'll be moving to ProtonMail in 2021 ,more or less for good. I've had an account there for about six months. I tried the "plus" pay plan, however due to a miscommunication I didn't understand the features, and cancelled. To Proton's credit, they refunded me my entire annual subscription that remained. It was a very efficient process and their CS rep could not have been more helpful.

Anyway, I still have the free account, and also make use of their free ProtonVPN service when we travel.

Do you normally use a VPN at home? Not trying to pry so feel free to be vague, I'm just wondering why only use ProtonVPN for travel?

[EPF]

Well, this is amusing.

In support of this site, I applied for an account today.

It just got "denied".

The reason given was the screen name I chose (based on my email, without the "at" whatever dot com) wasn't allowed. I have used a two digit suffix on most of my accounts, for years. But apparently having those two digits (numbers) on an account username isn't permitted there.

Ok then.

Quite a few years ago they started requiring non-anonymous email for registration due to all the bots, hackers, and trolls on a site that large. It’s been many years since I spent time there but it was a real issue that they had few ways to solve.

[Guerrero]

Can't confirm, but ProtonMail may be having issues as about an hour ago. Another forum member tried to send me a message from a Gmail account, and weird stuff happened.

I'm a long time ProtonMail user.

ProtonMail seems to have gotten it's stuff sorted out. It wasn't just me, the Reddit group reported the same issue I saw.

[HeavyDuty]

Funny I just had my first issue here in weeks reading this thread...

66030

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Use 308 rather than 15. I don't go there.

[mtnbkr]

Funny I just had my first issue here in weeks reading this thread...

66030

Got the same, but hitting F5 cleared it up.

Chris

[FNFAN]

This link is to the protonmail.com blog and gives a little info on their planned development. They're going to integrate a calendar function "soon"

https://protonmail.com/blog/v4-beta-announcement/

You can access the beta site by logging in at the https://beta.protonmail.com site. The user interface upgrades are nice and the calendar feature integration is great.

[mmc45414]

I just deactivated my Twitter account.

Not a very big sacrifice on my part, I really only used it one day. When some of the riots were going on, I forget which one now, there was some minor small city participation near my wife's shop. She needed to go do something so I went with her, and kept monitoring the situation on my phone. The local newspaper (that I pay for to get past their paywall) kept reporting that mostly peaceful protesters were trying to get up a ramp and block a nearby highway, and police from a variety of agencies were dissuading them from doing so, all about 2,000yds from where we were (where it was a beautiful and calm day). When it occurred to me that everything the newspaper was posting was just reporting what the PD had been tweeting, I signed up for Twitter and followed the local PD. It was pretty helpful for that one day.

Then a while back I realized social media was frequently making me angry instead of happy and I pulled the apps offa my phone and never looked at it again, managing to never send a single tweet, something that quite possibly would have happened when I was shitfaced.

I know it is like a flea biting an elephant, but I had to do a password reset to get access to it to close the account. I do admit I got a little bit of satisfaction from:

66031

[trailrunner]

Well, this is amusing.

In support of this site, I applied for an account today.

It just got "denied".

The reason given was the screen name I chose (based on my email, without the "at" whatever dot com) wasn't allowed. I have used a two digit suffix on most of my accounts, for years. But apparently having those two digits (numbers) on an account username isn't permitted there.

Ok then.

I tried to sign up of an account with them years ago. They couldn't seem to send the confirmation email to my Mac.com address. After three or four tries, I gave up.

[holmes168]

I’d recommend Protonmail (https://protonmail.com).

i give Proton Mail a second and a whole hearted endorsement. I use it for any type of sensitive emails.

[Guerrero]

i give Proton Mail a second and a whole hearted endorsement. I use it for any type of sensitive emails.

Thirded

[RJ]

Do you normally use a VPN at home? Not trying to pry so feel free to be vague, I'm just wondering why only use ProtonVPN for travel?

No, for a couple reasons. At home all my network traffic is routed through my MAC-address filtered WPA2 encrypted password protected firewalled router direct to a known commercial ISP that I have long history with via a hard wired cable modem. I’m fairly confident my packets will get to / from their destination.

Using ProtonVPN’s free service is at their basic tier, meaning servers with limited availability and lowest throughput. I’ve found running a free VPN slows my Speedtest download from 200+ Mbps to below 30. This is a significant penalty. I’ve seen similar degradation in ping times.

On the road, in an airport or hotel, sometimes I’ll use the ‘free’ WiFi, if I have to. Then, I’ll accept the hit in performance, if I have to connect to a WAP labeled ‘freehoneypotwireless’, but only with VPN on. :cool:

[Borderland]

Wolverines!

I'm going to be pissed if the insurgents take the treasury building and the person that sends my SS draw is taken hostage. :D Or is it a bot?

[JodyH]

Thirded

Protonmail for the win.

I've been steadily moving all my "important" emails away from Gmail and to Protonmail.
Anything at all that might be sensitive or confidential goes Protonmail.
I'm basically turning my Gmail account into a big spam folder full of junk mail from online purchases of nick-nack type items.
They can data-mine my eclectic purchases all they want, it'll fuck their algorithm.
:p

[Rick R]

Out of curiosity, I’ve always wondered who Go Daddy was but have never bothered to look it up?

Didn’t the owner of GoDaddy catch a lot of flack years ago for going on safari, bashing a tuskless elephant and having the temerity to post the video online?

[Borderland]

If I sign up for Proton mail all I need is an email address, right? I have a lot of contacts stored in gmail folders. How do I move those?

[Shoresy]

I know it is like a flea biting an elephant]
Maybe. But as I’ve said on other “your-departure-won’t-be-noticed” issues: it may only be a grain of sand on a beach but it’s MY fucking grain of sand and it’ll go on the beach I choose...

[LittleLebowski]

If I sign up for Proton mail all I need is an email address, right. I have a lot of contacts stored in gmail folders. How do I move those?

I believe they have an import tool.

[nickfro]

If I sign up for Proton mail all I need is an email address, right? I have a lot of contacts stored in gmail folders. How do I move those?


Here you go...

https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/transitioning-from-gmail-to-protonmail/

[sharps54]

No, for a couple reasons. At home all my network traffic is routed through my MAC-address filtered WPA2 encrypted password protected firewalled router direct to a known commercial ISP that I have long history with via a hard wired cable modem. I’m fairly confident my packets will get to / from their destination.

Using ProtonVPN’s free service is at their basic tier, meaning servers with limited availability and lowest throughput. I’ve found running a free VPN slows my Speedtest download from 200+ Mbps to below 30. This is a significant penalty. I’ve seen similar degradation in ping times.

On the road, in an airport or hotel, sometimes I’ll use the ‘free’ WiFi, if I have to. Then, I’ll accept the hit in performance, if I have to connect to a WAP labeled ‘freehoneypotwireless’, but only with VPN on. :cool:

That makes sense, thank you. :D

[Zhukov]

Goatboy's latest update:


AR15.com Backup Site Live, Switching to First Amendment Friendly Site Registrar

On Monday, January 11, 2021, I received notice from our site registrar that AR15.com had violated their terms of service and that AR15.com would be shut down immediately. The registrar’s decision to de-platform AR15.com was final and no method to appeal was offered.

It remains unclear specifically what content allegedly violated the registrar’s terms of service.

However, I am happy to report that we have found a new, First Amendment-friendly site registrar and we have begun the process of transitioning AR15.com to the new registrar.

We expect the switchover to take up to 5 days. During that time, our famous “AR15.com” URL will not be usable. Once the switchover is complete, AR15.com will be fully restored to normal function.

In the meantime, I welcome freedom lovers and firearm enthusiasts to visit us at our temporary URL: www.ar15-backup.com. We will post on the backup site when the normal AR15.com has been completely restored.


Juan Avila, President & Co-Founder, AR15.com

Looks like Epik will be the new domain registrar.

[LittleLebowski]

Goatboy's latest update:

Looks like Epik will be the new domain registrar.

Fuck GoDaddy for the lack of warning. Infuriating.

[John Murphy]

May you live in interesting times...

Oh, the irony of that being a Chinese quote....

[hufnagel]

well, this is giving me impetuous to get my domains off godaddy, finally.
anyone have any suggestions? I just need name hosting; I run my own DNS and everything else.

[Trigger]

The progressive wrongthink purge by big tech will be impossible to stop for at least two years.
Get ready for a complete and total lockdown on any speech that goes against the progressive narrative.
But it's cool... it's not the government squashing free speech*.
:rolleyes:
.

I agree. What also concerns me is the cancel culture variation where corporations/employers are firing employees if they get wind that a person attended an unapproved rally. Even when on vacation. Doxxing just took on a new sinister dimension. I’m not a fan.

[hufnagel]

Also, I would suggest everyone have their contact info up to date here.
I speak only for me, but I hereby authorize LL or his designated actors to contact me directly in case of any situations regarding this forum.

[hufnagel]

Goatboy's latest update:



Looks like Epik will be the new domain registrar.


Fuck GoDaddy for the lack of warning. Infuriating.

We/they have any proof Epik is Constitutionally friendly?
LL, who is p-f using? I have 18 domains I'll move right fucking now away from GD.

[MSparks909]

I highly recommend everyone start using Signal to text with. Learn how to use a VPN to browse the web. I use NordVPN on my iPhone. I set up a Gab account today, like it so far. Traffic volume there is insane with everyone registering over there. If you’re on FB or IG, I’d strongly consider moving away. Not only for the censorship shit going on, but for the raw amount of info those companies are getting from you and storing. If anyone wants my Gab name. Rough waters ahead...hope everyone is squared away

[rdtompki]

I’d recommend Protonmail (https://protonmail.com).

That's where I'm headed. GoDaddy was in the running, but they have DQ'ed

[hufnagel]

Epik is apparently run by a very Pro-1A/2A/Conservative/Constituitionalist dude.
Also, the dude who own NJGunForums.com apparently personally knows him, uses them for services, and vouches for him.
Good enough for me.

[Suvorov]

OK, I’ve deleted my Facebook account and have no other social media accounts.
I will move to protonmail in the next couple days. I am stuck with apple products at work and use legacy Microsoft at home. I’ve been using Firefox for browsing but it seems they are perhaps the most radical of all of them. Who do I move to for a browser?

[hufnagel]

OK, I’ve deleted my Facebook account and have no other social media accounts.
I will move to protonmail in the next couple days. I am stuck with apple products at work and use legacy Microsoft at home. I’ve been using Firefox for browsing but it seems they are perhaps the most radical of all of them. Who do I move to for a browser?

Good question.
I migrated from Chrome to Firefox, since google does only evil. But apparently FF/Moziila is just as bad or worse. Is it back to IE/Edge/Chromium? Brave really seemed to suck as a browser. Tor is based off Mozilla.

[Guerrero]

Brave has been good to me for over a year, both on desktop and on smartphone.

Also:

https://youtu.be/Xu3cUhnenv0

[Totem Polar]

Oh, the irony of that being a Chinese quote....

I had that thought too.

See you at Fernan R&G in the PacNW this summer, btw. :cool:


I speak only for me, but I hereby authorize LL or his designated actors to contact me directly in case of any situations regarding this forum.

Nah, you speak for me too.

I had a plan hatching to take the old ES300, the Mrs, and the next summer after this COVID bs dies down to travel around and meet some peeps from here. Can’t do that if I can’t find them.

Of course, I’m just going to drink everyone’s bourbon, so it might be no great loss.


Brave has been good to me for over a year, both on desktop and on smartphone.

[David S.]

I’ve been using Brave for a year or two. I vaguely recall some issues early on but it runs fine now for the simple browsing I do. I keep FF and Safari just in case I run into problems. I’m starting to experiment with Brave Tor too, time will tell.

[Whirlwind06]

I have been using Brave for a few months with no problems.
Found this one last night:
https://dissenter.com/

Meet the Free Speech Web Browser
The Dissenter web browser is built for The People, not advertisers. Block Big Tech ads and trackers by default. Discover a comment section on every URL online. Welcome to the free speech internet.

I haven't used it yet but will try it out.

[TGS]

I'm using Nord VPN.

If I get Proton mail, is there a reason to "bundle" and get the paid ProtonVPN as well for some reason to replace Nord VPN that isn't readily apparent? I'm not a tech guy.

[rob_s]

Seems to me that there is a big opportunity for a libertarian or conservative entrepreneur to offer various services to all of those kicked off of, or pissed off by, the current established tech companies. Who knew we’d live in an era where you needed to know the political leanings of the guy that makes your telephone...

Something of note in all of this... pretty much all tech companies, from hosting to social media to search engines, have insisted for years that they are not “media”, presumably because being “media” comes with added restrictions. I can’t help but wonder how long before Facebook or the Amazon server farms are nationalized. Perhaps not by this administration (given that they seem to be aligned) but the presumably (ultra?)conservative replacement in 4-8 years.

That gets me wondering, it seems that most financial advisers are still pushing Apple, Facebook, etc. as strong investments based on presumed future growth. I wonder what happens when they get nationalized or, at a minimum, broken up Ma Bell style.

[Trigger]

Seems to me that there is a big opportunity for a libertarian or conservative entrepreneur to offer various services to all of those kicked off of, or pissed off by, the current established tech companies. Who knew we’d live in an era where you needed to know the political leanings of the guy that makes your telephone...

Something of note in all of this... pretty much all tech companies, from hosting to social media to search engines, have insisted for years that they are not “media”, presumably because being “media” comes with added restrictions. I can’t help but wonder how long before Facebook or the Amazon server farms are nationalized. Perhaps not by this administration (given that they seem to be aligned) but the presumably (ultra?)conservative replacement in 4-8 years.

That gets me wondering, it seems that most financial advisers are still pushing Apple, Facebook, etc. as strong investments based on presumed future growth. I wonder what happens when they get nationalized or, at a minimum, broken up Ma Bell style.

Here is a good interview with the gab founder. They address a lot of your concerns.

https://www.revolver.news/2021/01/andrew-torba-exclusive-interview-gab-free-speech/

[hufnagel]

I'm not going to say people shouldn't use a VPN, but it's not the security prophylactic so many seem to think it is.
Silk Road was brought down because the dude made a simple, stupid mistake: he accidentally checked his PERSONAL email while on a random public wifi using his sanitized laptop and over the VPN he used to do all the Silk Road management shit. There's many dissertations out there about how VPNs and security are compromised, simply because someone makes a simple error. After all, the only secure computer is one that's never connected to the internet, never touched by a human, and never turned on. :D

[mmc45414]

it’s MY fucking grain of sand and it’ll go on the beach I choose...
And ya know, Twitter is probably the most expendable of all of them. What do you need Twitter for? So in my case me and my grain of sand are just gonna stay off the beach, and next quarter the dude with the lame beard will have to tell his parent company shareholders he has one less grain of sand. :cool:

[fixer]

Wonder what is next on BOR to get cancelled by our new overlords? 1st and 2nd seem to be in full circle-the-toilet territory.

[bruceride]

My grain of sand won't be playing on Twitter's beach anymore either. Too bad, I loved the hockey updates...

ETA: Insta gone too... Can't kill FB because my corporate pages are tied to me.

[Guerrero]

I'm using Nord VPN.

If I get Proton mail, is there a reason to "bundle" and get the paid ProtonVPN as well for some reason to replace Nord VPN that isn't readily apparent? I'm not a tech guy.

Price break. I haven't studied the deep tech details either. I had ProtonMail first, so getting ProtonVPN just seemed like a logical choice

[Kirk]

I think ARFCOMs problem was poor moderation. They recently had a thread threatening to go to politicians homes and their kids schools. After January 6th, there are going to be crackdowns from private companies on that type of threatening speech.

[noguns]

Do we have a separate "privacy" type thread in relation to this? As in what phone OS, email, vpns, etc? With the parlor, twitter, facebook banning my tin foil hat has come out the closet.

[Chance]

Do we have a separate "privacy" type thread in relation to this? As in what phone OS, email, vpns, etc? With the parlor, twitter, facebook banning my tin foil hat has come out the closet.

This is a thread (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?31114-RFI-Personal-information-security-Apps-devices-and-practices)that's been running for a while, although others pop up here and there. A few minutes with the search function should turn up others.

[LittleLebowski]

I think ARFCOMs problem was poor moderation. They recently had a thread threatening to go to politicians homes and their kids schools. After January 6th, there are going to be crackdowns from private companies on that type of threatening speech.

Except on Twitter when conservatives are threatened.

[Wendell]

"It's twelve o'clock Americans, another day closer to victory, and for all of you out there on and behind the lines, this is your song."

[jh9]

Seems to me that there is a big opportunity for a libertarian or conservative entrepreneur to offer various services to all of those kicked off of, or pissed off by, the current established tech companies.

There really isn't. That "big" opportunity is an opportunity to invest in a lot of hardware and dev $$$ for a small slice of the market with incredibly fickle ad revenue and vendor support.

Those "various services" in Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple have broad, incestuous niches and can take advantage of not only existing partnerships but economies of scale when doing big things. Case in point, Apple buys a shit ton of AWS resources instead of building their own. Netflix does (did?) as well. This feeds AWS from those companies' huge revenues in addition to its own. Likewise the Amazon/Facebook apps on iOS and android. Likewise most people using Google on those same devices, clicking on Amazon/Apple ads.

As time goes on, Google has created its own AWS competitor (GCP) and Apple is maybe disentangling itself from AWS (as may be Netflix?) but they are now very wealthy companies that can go it solo. There is no conservative angel investor that's going to plop down billions to recreate not only the infrastructure but the interleaved, symbiotic revenue streams to create a competitor ecosystem that will never attract more than a handful of Trump supporters. Especially when it's all built on ad revenue and vendor support that will evaporate at the drop of a hat, as Parler found out, when your "free speech" platform has a disproportionate number of posts calling for things like "hang Mike Pence" that go unmoderated.

[ER_STL]

OK, I’ve deleted my Facebook account and have no other social media accounts.
I will move to protonmail in the next couple days. I am stuck with apple products at work and use legacy Microsoft at home. I’ve been using Firefox for browsing but it seems they are perhaps the most radical of all of them. Who do I move to for a browser?

You can always run curl (https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html)commands from your laptop/device and learn to read raw HTML and Javascript... :)

Unfortunately, we've grown so accustomed to the convenience that service providers like Google offer that we've turned over most to all of our privacy in exchange. Your ISP, your browser, Google etc all capture and sell your information. A VPN will protect you from your ISP and anyone else between you and them but unless they strip off cookies and other information your browser attempts to send back to the server (it's incredible how much that actually is), you'll still quickly be identified as the client.

If you truly want anonymity on the Internet, you'll need to separate your casual surfing from anything that identifies you. IOW, take one device and use it soley for PF.com and anything else you do that's none of anyone else's business, and do it over a trusted VPN provider. Use another device for social media, email, Amazon and everything else tied to your email address, mobile number, etc. Do that also over a trusted VPN.

[trailrunner]

This article was posted in May, at the peak of the COVID shutdowns. This is likely where the real research in AI is being done - bots to sound like natural language, aimed at dividing this country. Why should our adversaries waste money building ships and aircraft, or risk spilling blood, when they can get us to do it to ourselves?

https://www.scs.cmu.edu/news/nearly-half-twitter-accounts-discussing-reopening-america-may-be-bots



Nearly Half of the Twitter Accounts Discussing 'Reopening America' May Be Bots
CMU Researchers Say Sophisticated, Orchestrated Bot Campaigns Aim To Sow Divide

[jh9]

This article was posted in May, at the peak of the COVID shutdowns. This is likely where the real research in AI is being done - bots to sound like natural language, aimed at dividing this country. Why should our adversaries waste money building ships and aircraft, or risk spilling blood, when they can get us to do it to ourselves?

https://www.scs.cmu.edu/news/nearly-half-twitter-accounts-discussing-reopening-america-may-be-bots

Yeah. This. Exactly.

"Twitter has more bots than people" has been a known issue for years. I created a twitter account for a work hackathon years ago just to write a bot that used IBM's Watson NLP (I guess they call it NLU now) on some specific twitter content related to that employer. (Semantic analysis to determine which users were angry vs satistifed). I never sent a single tweet from it myself.

[Guerrero]

Yeah. This. Exactly.

"Twitter has more bots than people" has been a known issue for years. I created a twitter account for a work hackathon years ago just to write a bot that used IBM's Watson NLP (I guess they call it NLU now) on some specific twitter content related to that employer. (Semantic analysis to determine which users were angry vs satistifed). I never sent a single tweet from it myself.

Tangent: people on PF have such fascinating jobs.

[TDA]

I think ARFCOMs problem was poor moderation. They recently had a thread threatening to go to politicians homes and their kids schools. After January 6th, there are going to be crackdowns from private companies on that type of threatening speech.

It looks like shitposting is much more likely to be treated as a credible threat now. Apple news is highlighting an ABC News story that claims armed protestors are planning to storm all 50 state capitals, based on a leaked internal FBI memo purple monkey dishwasher.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/armed-protests-planned-50-state-capitols-fbi-bulletin/story?id=75179771

It looks like we're now in a cycle of bold steps being aggressively taken to make everything worse.

[LittleLebowski]

It looks like shitposting is much more likely to be treated as a credible threat now. Apple news is highlighting an ABC News story that claims armed protestors are planning to storm all 50 state capitals, based on a leaked internal FBI memo purple monkey dishwasher.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/armed-protests-planned-50-state-capitols-fbi-bulletin/story?id=75179771

It looks like we're now in a cycle of bold steps being aggressively taken to make everything worse.

God, that is so laughable.

[TDA]

Well have you seen CNN though? America is Confronting Dark Forces! Unfortunately none of the forces being confronted is unbridled hysteria.

[shootist26]

God, that is so laughable.

what's so laughable about it? There are enough deranged, violent, conspiracy theory-fueled morons out there for this to be a legitimate concern.

[blues]

what's so laughable about it? There are enough deranged, violent, conspiracy theory-fueled morons out there for this to be a legitimate concern.

On both sides of the ledger...

[Borderland]

Google etc all capture and sell your information

I realized a long time ago that FB was a bad choice because of data mining. Until recently I never thought Google was doing the same thing. Emails started popping up from places and people I had no contact with, unknown to me, mostly trying to sell me something but others were politically focused.

[Borderland]

Google etc all capture and sell your information

I realized a long time ago that FB was a bad choice because of data mining. Until recently I never thought Google was doing the same thing. Emails started popping up from places and people I had no contact with, unknown to me, mostly trying to sell me something but others were politically focused.

You can tell I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to internet stuff. I just wish that Al Gore had done a better job. ;)

[TDA]

what's so laughable about it? There are enough deranged, violent, conspiracy theory-fueled morons out there for this to be a legitimate concern.

Well, for starters, there's no one in my state Capital building. It's closed, and they're convening virtually. I guess you could protest from home while watching the YouTube channel...

[boing]

what's so laughable about it? There are enough deranged, violent, conspiracy theory-fueled morons out there for this to be a legitimate concern.

I mostly lurk on a few other gun boards, technical forums only. I peeked into some of the political discussions recently and the level of batshit-fuckin’-crazy that’s visible even on the surface is literally unbelievable. I couldn’t sort joke posts from sincere until I realized that most of them were not joking. And that’s just the public posts. I find completely plausible that every state would have a wing-nut contingent making noises about “doing something” at the capitol.

I’ve never been on Parler, but if they did draw a similar concentration of Stop-The-Steal/QAnon cheerleaders, I’ll bet there will be ample evidence of incitements to violence and insurrection on the service, enough to make the case for deplatforming.

[Lomshek]

Well, for starters, there's no one in my state Capital building. It's closed, and they're convening virtually. I guess you could protest from home while watching the YouTube channel...


Yep. The whole "50 state capital protest" BS is made up. If I was a betting man I'd say the feds looked at last year's Virginia Lobby Day rally and the fact that the inauguration is that same date and decided to start that rumor as a way to hopefully entice a bunch of suckers into what can hopefully (in their mind) become a violent protest. That would set things up to justify a crackdown on "armed insurgent militias" (i.e. anyone who isn't liberal and anti-gun).

Just part of the plan. Democrat leaders cheer on blamtifa as they burn buildings all over the country but want to kick republicans out or office for daring to question an election with tons of sketchy shenanigans.

[BehindBlueI's]

This thread is wandering into general political discussion. It's been left here until this point both as a service for arfcom refugees to find and for the general discussion of alternatives. If it continues to waver into politics it will be locked or moved to politics subforum.

[LittleLebowski]

what's so laughable about it? There are enough deranged, violent, conspiracy theory-fueled morons out there for this to be a legitimate concern.

Yea, I think the state of coordinated attacks in all fifty states is laughable.

[hufnagel]

I'd be seriously impressed if there was.

[NEPAKevin]

Well have you seen CNN though? America is Confronting Dark Forces! Unfortunately none of the forces being confronted is unbridled hysteria.

It might be simpler than that (Occam's razor). Kind of hard to explain with out getting into politics and tin foil hat territory, but here goes. If you accept the concept that that silicon valley, main stream media, and the incoming administration and congress have been pretty much working together to concentrate power and wealth, then it isn't too much of a stretch that big tech would shut down the various outlets of the disenfranchised middle class, flyover country, deplorables, etc. in hopes of getting some already paranoid Cleti(or whatever the plural of Cletus is?) to radicalize in order to fulfil the narrative they are fomenting which is that the biggest existential threat is racially motivated, domestic terrorism. Thus giving the media its talking points/propaganda and federal government its justification for imposing draconian restrictions in the name of common sense security.

Why wait for a crisis, when you can create your own and have fun doing it.

[Suvorov]

It might be simpler than that (Occam's razor). Kind of hard to explain with out getting into politics and tin foil hat territory, but here goes. If you accept the concept that that silicon valley, main stream media, and the incoming administration and congress have been pretty much working together to concentrate power and wealth, then it isn't too much of a stretch that big tech would shut down the various outlets of the disenfranchised middle class, flyover country, deplorables, etc. in hopes of getting some already paranoid Cleti(or whatever the plural of Cletus is?) to radicalize in order to fulfil the narrative they are fomenting which is that the biggest existential threat is racially motivated, domestic terrorism. Thus giving the media its talking points/propaganda and federal government its justification for imposing draconian restrictions in the name of common sense security.

Why wait for a crisis, when you can create your own and have fun doing it.

I suspect you are pretty close to the target here. This is really nothing more than applied psychology.

[Joe in PNG]

I suspect you are pretty close to the target here. This is really nothing more than applied psychology.

There's also the belief that if the bad people weren't telling evil Rightwing hatespeech to rile up the Cleetii, they would placidly settle down and accept the fact that the Government Knows What's Best For Them.